Before we’re whisked away to Sri Lanka, we see Alice at home and this shows us why we she so badly needs this exotic trip, filled with the possibility for adventure. I was as relieved as Alice that her friends Maureen and Steph had persuaded her to go on this joint 30th birthday celebration trip, and was willing her not to cancel. (I know she wouldn’t have because otherwise this would have been a short book but I was pretty anxious for her to leave the UK behind for a couple of weeks.)

When the story switches to Sri Lanka, Isabelle Broom lands you right in all the colour and chaos of Sri Lanka from airport arrivals through taxi transfers, tuk tuk rides and packed train journeys to night-time mountain climbs to see the sunrise and onto a photogenic safari with a hairy encounter. She describes the scenery and animal life, the heat and humidity, the tastes and sounds of the country so well that I imagined myself there. I could understand why Alice comes alive there and feels more her true self.

That Alice and her friends hook up with Max and his friend and travel together is something that feels natural. It happens when you’re travelling. And sometimes you get lucky and meet someone who’ll be important to you and won’t just ride a couple of stops along the way. It’s the best kind of holiday romance when you meet someone who can see the real you, and encourages you to be that person. It’s so freeing when you finally find the courage to be yourself, and can open up to new experiences and adventures.

Max’s story helps to balance Alice’s and put it into perspective. Where she has put together an itinerary to challenge herself and her friends, he faces very real challenges doing things they take for granted. Again, though, he’s holidaying with a good friend there to help him – and finds in Alice someone from whom he can’t hide. She reads him well within a short time and notices things he manages to hide from others.

I was a very happy fellow traveller with Alice, Max and friends and fell headlong into this lush will-they? won’t-they? story. It’s tender and tentative, heartwarming and heartbreaking, and vibrant and life-affirming. Isabelle Broom’s put Sri Lanka firmly on my map of places to go (but not before Prague, obviously) even though I feel as if I’ve already been there thanks to this beautiful book. One Thousand Stars to You, Isabelle Broom. You’ve done it again.

One thousand stars and you

Omg Isabelle Broom has done it again, transported me to another country. This time our adventure took place in beautiful Sri Lanka and I could almost feel the red dust on me as I was taken on the trip of a lifetime with Alice and her two friends Steph and Maureen as they celebrate their 30th birthdays.
The descriptions of the amazing places they visited were filled with authenticity, so much so that I feel I have been to Sri Lanka myself.
When the girls meet two handsome hunks called Max and Jamal they travel as a group and spur each other on when the going gets tough.
Some parts of their trip felt exhausting and Isabelle manages to capture the feelings so well that I felt out of breath at some points.
The sensitivity with which Max’s situation is described actually brought me to tears a few times it was written beautifully and was very evocative.
Chapter 48 reduced me to trembles.
Isabelle Broom is one of my all time favourite authors and I feel as though I am on a round the world trip with her with every book she writes. This one is a love story so different and so special, heartbreaking, touching and so very poignant.
At one point I wanted to put it in the freezer so that I didn’t have to end it but I had to finish it and boy what a heart racing climax it reached and it made me so happy.
My advice to everyone is to read every single one of Isabelle’s books and have the experience of an exotic holiday from your very own home.

I have read a couple of Isabelle Broom's books before and can honestly say that I think this is her best yet. It's a book about two people becoming the people they are always meant to be, becoming the best versions of themselves, a real meeting of minds.

Alice is on holiday with two of her friends, Maureen and Steph, all of whom celebrate their 30th birthdays within the space of a few days while they are on the trip. They meet and team up with Max and his friend Jamal almost as soon as they arrive. Neither Max nor Alice are looking for any kind of relationship. Alice is already in a long-term steady, if rather uneventful, relationship. Both have had accidents in the past which have changed them in some way. Alice's accident had led her mother to become overprotective and for Alice to suppress the outgoing, adventurous side of herself, settling for a quieter, more mundane life. Max's accident was much more life-changing and had made him strive to become a better version of himself, someone more determined to live life to the full.

Both main characters were very easy to like from the outset. Max is incredibly strong, brave and resilient although his moving poetry gives insight into his darker days. I liked the way that he clearly had no self-pity nor did he want anyone else to see him as anything but an everyday guy. Alice was perhaps more complex as she was really just beginning to open up to the possibility of changing her way of living and becoming more the kind of person she knew deep down she was, not suppressing her outgoing nature any more. It was lovely to see her grow throughout the book. I liked the other characters too. Jamel is the invaluable and supportive physiotherapist who became Max's closest friend. Alice's friends were great fun to read about although Maureen could be a little annoying at times!

The heat, the colour, the noise and the beauty of Sri Lanka are all vibrantly described. I see from the notes at the end of the book that the author has visited and she has brought her her experiences vividly to life on the page. From a little Twitter chat we had I also know she took part in the same adrenaline packed activity which Alice does in the book and I can only say she's a braver woman than me! But it does explain why the experiences of the travellers in the book seem so authentic.

One Thousand Stars and You is one of those books where I just want to say go and buy it. It's a beautiful, romantic, enchanting story and I didn't want it to end.  I loved the main characters, I loved reading about their experiences and I love the way their stories ended. All in all, it's fair to say that I just adored this book!